Crucifying JoePa

Joe Paterno, esteemed coach at Penn State,
now lives forever as a pariah. 

By: Michael Rivera
The LBCC Commuter
Video Editor/Writer

ESPN.com reports “$60 million sanction, a four-year postseason ban and reduction of 10 initial and 20 total scholarships each year for a four-year period.” Also, the longtime coach and Penn State demigod, Joe Paterno, is slowly being removed from the legends and lore of the esteemed college’s history. Not only that, but the university will lose all scholarships for athletes over the next four years. The punishment all over one man’s cover up.

“I now believe that, contrary to its original intention, coach Paterno’s statue has become a source of division and an obstacle to healing in our university and beyond,” Penn State President Rodney Erickson said.

Yes, Paterno should have gotten rid of Sandusky as soon as the information was leaked to him. Joe Pa never molested any children, plain and simple. Look, they took away all the guy’s wins, they’re currently going through Penn State and burning every single iota of anything dealing with Paterno. It’s a witch hunt that should be focusing on the former president of Penn State (who Paterno told and started the cover up) and Sandusky.

I think its so interesting how JoePa is now considered this evil man who doesn’t mean anything but dirt to most people. According to Aaryn Belfer of sdcitybeat.com, “Paterno revealed a crevasse-sized character flaw that ultimately undermined and negated everything he’d professed to believe in during his lifetime.”

Jeff Sandusky's terror has ended, after
14 years of sexual deviancy toward children.

I think that Roland Martin has got it on the most precise criticism: “But Paterno didn’t break NCAA rules in covering up for his buddy Sandusky, and allowing the coach a clear field to wreak havoc on the lives of numerous young men. What Paterno did break was the moral code that every man and woman should abide by.” Paterno turned against everything he stood for and that will be remembered. But, regardless of his ill-intent, you cannot deny the impact he has made.

All of this column doesn’t matter other than this paragraph right here: The real victims of Penn State are the athletes. These guys worked so hard to make it to one of the best college football teams in America, and most of them cannot play because of scholarship losses. Those alumni, who were part of the JoePa Dynasty, also live in shame because their hard work was taken away by a couple men, who were more worried about appearances than the disgusting atrocities that Sandusky committed. Those people will now suffer for something completely out of their hands, just so Penn State and the NCAA can fix everything on a PR note.

Joe Paterno, regardless of his recent misdoings, was an inspiration to many of the students and athletes at Penn State. Now, I’m not going to sit here and condone what he did at all. I will say you can take away every resemblance of Paterno on the campus, yet you cannot take away the good works that he did throughout his career at Penn State. You cannot take away the blood, sweat and tears he poured over his football team to create the respect they used to have. You cannot take away  the motivation that he gave to every single student or athlete he came into contact with. Repugnant as it may be, JoePa’s legacy will continue to stink up Penn State for years to come.